Took more pics tonight....

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

This bull is just a year old yesterday, and we weighed him last weekend (when we put his nose ring in) and he weighed 1226 pounds. He is currently on 8 pounds of bull ration and orchard hay (mature hay). He is an embryo bull calf that I traded some semen for (I had some Steel Force semen - high dollar stuff for those not familiar with Simmental pedigrees) for two embryos, of which only one stuck. So, the semen cost about $400 total, so that is about my investment (beside the year of the cow that carried and raised him). We really like him; he is deep and soggy, yet maintains his muscle shape. A fault he has that I do not care for is a bit of extra navel for me, but he got that from his dam. He has covered two cows, one passed over her cycle on Saturday (he has not been semen tested), I just wanted to get a couple of calves out of him to see what he can do....

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

And a few others I took while I was out. This is one of our recips, she is currently raising a Built Right x SOSF Ebony's Joy bull calf, and has a Macho x She's a Looker embryo in her set up for September. She was 70 days bred today. We are consigning her to our state sale in March, we think she is a fantastic dam and will benefit someone with her new embryo calf. She is 3 years old, and raising her second calf.

This is one of my favorite cows. She is a Macho half blood (1/4 Maine 1/4 Angus). She is the granddam to the black steer that I posted in another thread (that is big for his age), and dam of our bull that won State Fair with last year. She is currently raising another bull calf (really nice) that was born on Christmas, and has already been AI'd to Grandmaster when she was 28 days post calving (I will consider us lucky if she takes - a bit early but I figured we would try). She is 6 years old and raised four calves now. She has a great udder, as do most Macho females (why I love them!).

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Here is a pic of her Christmas calf, the one on the right. He is a monster, was 98 pounds at birth. He is the calf on the right, and the calf on the left is an October heifer sired by Montecito out of a first calf heifer.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Our cows get no grain, just hay right now. This next one just goes to show you not all of our cattle are beautiful. :lol2: This cow is one of our best recips, but always looks like Ugly Betty! We joke she reminds us of one of those skinny chicks that eat like everyone else but is ALWAYS skinny! She raises one of our heaviest embryo calves each year, and has an embryo in her already due in September (Steel Force embryo) and raising a October embryo bull calf. She was given to my son because of a heifer purchase that went bad (we bought a bred heifer, due in 30 days to a calving ease bull, and the bull calf had to be pulled by the vet (dead at 130 pounds) and the heifer was down for 2 weeks with a pinched nerve and never able to breed again. The breeder felt really bad, and gave us this heifer as a replacement when she was 6 months old.

Here is the embryo calf she is raising right now. He is a Club King x a Dream On cow. He is an October born, and looks pretty good!

 

[branguscowgirl]

Well, I spent the week at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale looking at some of the best. And your yearling bull fits right in!
He sure looks good to me!

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

And, one of my favorites, this is our January Broker embryo bull calf. We really like the way he looks! He was born mid-January, and we pulled him and the other few new babies up to the barn tonight because of the nasty storm coming tomorrow.

There you have it! I like looking at photos of other cattle on here, so I try to get some of ours up here every now and then. :tiphat:

And Thanks Brangus Cowgirl.... I appreciate your positive comments! Sorry about all my replies, I had a hard time getting all the pics to load up. I actually left a bunch out, because I got so frustrated! I am like one of those bad parents that carry a pic book with them everywhere and want to show pics of their kids, I am so proud! :lol2:

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Good looking animals! I really like that yearling bull. He is very thick.

 

[Kingfisher]

You can send him to Brownwood to get a few more samples whenever your ready...

 

[creekdrive]

Beautiful animals. Especially like that yearling bull, and the black cow that is one of your favorites.
We have a few of those 'Ugly Betty' cows around here too, some of them may not look like much but they sure can raise a darn good calf.

 

[torogmc81]

Would love to see an update pic in a few months of the Jan. Broker calf!

 

[ousoonerfan22]

I like that yearling bull!

 

[glacierridge]

Great yearling!!!!!!
He's gonna be a beast when he's mature.
What do his EPDs look like?
He looks like a bull I would like to use in my herd.

The rest of the crew look real good too. :-D

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Great yearling!!!!!!
He's gonna be a beast when he's mature.
What do his EPDs look like?
He looks like a bull I would like to use in my herd.

The rest of the crew look real good too. :-D

Here is the link to the ASA website:

https://herdbook.org/simmapp/template/a ... archAction
and his registration number is 2707450
He has a really nice set, love his yearling (101) and API (140). We like to use AI bulls that are at least 100 or higher in both.

Thanks for all the compliments. We like him enough to actually keep him beyond a year and try using him on a few cows. Most of you know our policy that everything gets AI'd or an embryo, so this goes beyond our typical thinking. But we are getting big enough (20 plus cows, plus heifers) that having a breeding age bull around is not a bad thing. Now, if a cow does not take on her second AI attempt, I can throw her to him and know we will still get a quality calf out of her (I hope). I guess time will tell...

 

[glacierridge]

Think that bull of yours will throw blaze faces?

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Think that bull of yours will throw blaze faces?

Hard to say, but if I was to guess I would say YES. ALL of his flushmates that were born had a white face (why were we lucky enough to not get the white blaze :cry2: ), except one that was born red. All of them are outstanding just like him. The owners of the cow have already sold all of them except the red one, which their daughter will be showing this year. We are the only ones that got an embryo, the rest were put in their cows. That cow (his dam) has yet to miss with any bull they flush her to. Most of her calves are priced at 3K or higher as weanlings, and they get it. Several of his half sisters (by the dam) have won huge shows, like MO state fair and such. They are larger framed, deep, soggy and very maternal. I hope to get some heifers out of him that look just like his dam!!! I can dream, right? :nod: ;-)

 

[glacierridge]

Larger framed...
What frame size?
Where do you think he'll end up?
6+ isn't bad by me
I hope he'd let blazes come thru too.

 

[JWBrahman]

You always post photos of exceptional cattle, thanks for sharing. I wouldn't stress so much on the navel/sheath. Check out the Philip Ackerman book, American Brahman. In it there is a photo of the famous Hudgins bull "Manso", the worst of the Aristocrata sons who happened to be the most widely used specimen. To this day I have yet to see a Brahman with a sheath as bad yet that bull sired nearly 400 calves.